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[Assessment 562] Message for the New YearMarie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.comThu Dec 21 10:21:59 EST 2006
The following message is from Tom Sticht. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------- December 20, 2006 Peeling Potatoes for Freedom from Want: A Message for the New Year of 2007 Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education On February 13, 2003, the United Nations Literacy Decade was launched, with the theme of Literacy as Freedom. To celebrate the U.N. Decade of Literacy's theme of Literacy as Freedom, I conducted a speaking tour in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States called Literacy Frees the World (LFW). Part of the LFW presentation discussed the work of adult literacy educators contributing to the achievement by adult learners of each of the Four Freedoms discussed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. The presentation also discussed the importance of teaching literacy following Functional Context Education (FCE) principles in which the teaching of basic skills is integrated with or embedded in the teaching of knowledge within the contexts of the adult students' lives. One illustration of this FCE approach occurred during World War II. During that war, over a quarter million young men learned to read in Special Training Units in the Army. One of the resources used to teach reading was a newspaper, Our War, which was published monthly from June 1942 through September 1945. Each issue of Our War included a cartoon strip about the fictional Private Pete and his buddy, Daffy. The January 1944 issue discussed the New Year. It has a message pertinent to today's times and circumstances, including the United Nation's Decade of Literacy theme of Literacy as Freedom. Following is a synopsis of the strip. Our War January 1944 Private Pete Starts the New Year Right The strip opens with a panel showing Private Pete and Daffy dancing at a U.S.O. party. Then they walk back to their barracks and Private Pete says to Daffy, "That was a swell party. Sure makes you want to start the New Year Right. The next strip shows Pete saying to Daffy, who is still in his bunk, "Time to get up! Remember your New Year's resolutions. Let's go!" After making his bunk up, Pete says, "Are these corners o.k., Daffy?" Daffy says, "They sure are. And look at mine, too. Daffy then says, "Look at the shine on these shoes, Pete." Pete says, "Good! But what about your laundry?" The next panel is two weeks later on Jan. 15. Daffy says, "Gee, I've kept my promises for two whole weeks." Next panel, Pete and Daffy walk into the barracks day room. Daffy says, "What are you going to do, Pete?" Pete says, "I'm going to find out more about the war. Remember, I promised to to that all year long." Looking at a magazine in the day room Pete says, "This magazine shows what happened when the war started." Several panels on, Pete says, "And there's another big job to do after the war is over." Next panel, Pete says, "Remember the poster we say about the Four Freedoms?" Daffy says excitedly, "I know them.FREEDOM FROM WANT, FREEDOM FROM FEAR, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, FREEDOM OF SPEECH." Next the cartoon shows Pete and Daffy walking from their barracks to the mess hall. Pete says, "Everything we do helps to win the war." Daffy says, "You mean K.P., too?" In the final panel, Daffy and Pete are pealing potatoes while on K.P. and Daffy says, with a smile on his face, "Guess this takes care of freedom from want!" Still, today, over sixty years from the fictional discussion of Private Pete and Daffy, men and women around the world are still seeking literacy as one of the key tools for securing the Four Freedoms for themselves and their families. And hundreds of thousands of adult literacy teachers are working, often under dangerous and oppressive conditions, to help these adults achieve life sustaining and enhancing literacy skills. With great resolve, this work by literacy learners and their teachers will continue in the New Year of 2007! Literacy Frees the World! Happy New Year! Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net
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